Created by Shouzou Kaga & Gunpei Yokoi, the Fire Emblem series has a rich history as one of the first tactical RPG series ever conceived. It's rise in popularity in the West and decision for release was due to the appearance of Marth and Roy in Nintendo's all star fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee in 2001. With the two mysterious swordfighter's presence in the Gamecube's best selling game and the commercial success of Intelligent System's other strategy series Advance Wars, Nintendo decided the time was right to bring the fire to the West.

Fire Emblem: Rekka No Ken was released on the Game Boy Advance on April 25, 2003 in Japan and in North America on November 3rd the same year under the name Fire Emblem. It was the first game in the series to be released outside of Japan, but the seventh instalment overall. The story was a prequel, taking place 20 years before Fuuin no Tsurugi, reaching even farther back to tell the ancient history of Elibe. Long ago, dragons and humans lived together in peace and harmony, sharing with them knowledge. All of that changed when humanity wages a terrible war against their former equals that became known as the Scouring. Eight legendary heroes lead the battles, winning the Scouring, causing the defeated dragons to disappear from the nation. These leaders would be known as the Eight Legends, founders the eight territories of Elibe. Nearly one millennium later, the story begins with you, a tactician, found unconscious in the plains of Sacae and the tale of a plains swordswoman named Lyn. For the first nine chapters, you guide Lyndis and her many allies on her quest to save her grandfather from his power-hungry brother Lord Lundgren. A year after, the main quest begins with *Elle-eh-wood*Eliwood's adventure, father of Roy, alongside his childhood friend Hector, father of Lilina. Eliwood had already helped Lyn with her uncle's malicious plan, now he searched for his father Elbert, only to discover a plot that threatened to plunge the world into the dark times of the Scouring and the mastermind behind it, Nergal.

Nergal's plot was to open the Dragon's Gate and call forth dragons in order to steal their life energy, or quintesssence, and become the most powerful being alive. In order open the gate, he needed the power of Ninian or Nils, two mysterious twins who turned out to be dragons in human shape. With his powerful morphs and the assassins known as the Black Fang under his control, Eliwood, Hector, the returning Lyn and their allies sought out the Archsage Athos and obtained the blazing sword Durendal in order to put an end to Nergal's madness and save the land of Elibe from a fiery grave. The plot was told before and after every chapter, rewarding players who completed the stage with another piece of the narrative, encouraging players to continue on in their turn based war.

At the heart of the story was a battle that needed to be won, in turn based strategic simulation.

Players choose a limited amount of characters from their ranks and arm them with weapons, items and staves, before pitting them against enemy units. Units moved across the map on a grid base, only moving up down, left or right. Units could engage in combat against enemy units, rescue, support or use staves on fellow allies, enter villages, or even talk to foes and former friends in order to get them to join your ranks. Mounted units such as pegasus knights could partake in one action and move before ending its actions, with the exception of combat. Combat was decided by the units stats and the weapon they wielded. Much like Pokémon, one weapon type more effective against another and vice-versa. Swords beat axes, axes best lances and lances beat swords. Magic had its own triangle formed by anima, dark, and light magic . Only bows were exempt from the weapons triangle, though in return, they couldn't attack directly. If a unit was fast enough, they could strike an opponent twice in one turn. After the player moved all of their units or ends their turn, the enemy AI would begin theirs, and then, if there were any, other units would make their move. The cycle would continue until either the player emerged victorious, or defeated. Some maps required you to seize a location on the map while others put you on the defence for a set amount of turns. In addition, obstacles and weather hindered mobility of units. It was up to the player to decide the best possible route and units to carry out each mission.

Every unit type had different uses inside and outside of combat. Cavaliers were incredibly mobile so they and take an injured unit from the front-lines to the back. Mages could attack from near and afar, but their versatility was countered by their low HP and defence. Thieves were fast and could open locks, but were weak in combat. What's more, each character had a distinct personality, and some were necessary for recruiting new units. The player needed to decide between their favourite character, units best that suited each battle, possible new recruits and the use of terrain to their advantage as they would often be outnumbered, but not outmatched.

RPG elements, such as health, magic, speed, skill, and other stats by levelling up were present, though not as complex as true RPGs like Dragon Quest. Every one of the 44 character had different stat growths. One might excel in dodging blows while another is a deals massive damage but moves rather slow and inaccurately. After reaching level 10 and using a special item, non-promoted units could promote to a new class, with larger stat capabilities and a hearty bonus to their current stats. One mechanic that quickly became synonymous with Fire Emblem was permanent death. When a character dies, they stay dead for the rest of the game, or retreated for plot convenience. You could still continue on with the game but if Lord Eliwood, Lyn or Hector were killed, the game ended. For perfectionists and players who grew attached to their troops, it meant either leaving a friend behind, or tweaking your strategy in order to overcome the odds.

In addition to the regular narrative, some units could engage in support conversations on the battlefield that gave bonuses to characters within three spaces from one another. Characters could have a maximum of 5 support conversations and ranged from levels c to A, meaning players could decide on a high level support with large benefits to a certain stat, or several weaker ones that gave well rounded bonuses. The conversations defined each character's personalities in a deep manner as well as slightly changing the ending for certain characters. Often, characters with a level A support would continue to be good friends, a bittersweet end, or marriage. In some cases, it would change the entire ending.

Fire Emblem was hailed by critics and gamers for its masterful story, the complexity of the large roster of characters, challenging strategy, as well as the quality of the soundtrack among other aspects. One minor criticism was the multiplayer mode, which many felt was an unnecessary addition. Still, the excellent single-player campaign made more than enough compensation for the multiplayer's shortcomings. Fire Emblem was a modest success in North America, selling over 490 000 copies. It should be noted that no Fire Emblem game has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Nevertheless, Fire Emblem came close, with 970 000 units. It became a fan favourite in the series for its near perfect marrying of gameplay and narrative, and telling one of the finest tales in gaming history. In 2006, Fire Emblem was voted 51st on IGN's Reader's Choice Top 100 best games ever, beating out popular titles at the time such as the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. The same year, Nintendo Power's January 2006 issue ranked Fire Emblem 41st out of 200 Nintendo games. Fire Emblem proved that the series had a place in the West, as a fantastic tactical Role Playing series able to prove its brilliance in the West long after its foundation in the East.

Fin

Come back next week as we take a look at the second Fire Emblem game, the third for the GBA, and the only one to share a subtitle with Double Dragon.

As we near the end of this summer, it comes to reason that the Summer of Square Enix must come to an end as well. So, what better way to end it than witha little contraversy?

Presenting the 1995 SNES masterpiece scoring in at a Metacritic of (Metacritic doesn't make a game better or worse), with a legacy greater than most series have in total, the time-travelling RPG with Frog:

And in this corner, the DS JRPG that revolutionzed what it meant to be a JRPG in 2008, helmed by Tetsuya Nomura, the CAT with gloves manlier than Mickey Mouse:

The rules in this segement are simple. In a two-part comparison with an older title and a newer one, in this case, Chrono Trigger and The World Ends With You, are weighed down and a winner is declared the superiour of the two. This does not in any way mean that one has or will ever have more of an impact of the two, but instead which of the two I consider to be the overall superiour title that has stood the test of time as of 2012 and forward. The first part will be a comparison of graphics and sound and which game has the superiour of the two given their respective systems limits. The second part will be the actual meat of the game: The story and of course, gameplay. This will be my own personal opinion and will in no way reflect anyone else's opinions between these two titles. So, get your friends together and place your bet, Pixels or Polygons is coming soon!

It's summer time. Such beautiful weather. So what better way to enjoy it than to sit around and play video games?

Indeed Will Smith, fresh and delightfully square. Speaking of which, Square Enix. They're one of the greatest Japanese game companies ever. They're a culprit of milking franchises dry to the bone. They're the golden standard for RPGs. Their last good Final Fantasy was X. They deliver their fans what they want with substance. The last ActRaiser title was made in 1993... Every company has had their ups and downs in terms of games, and throughout this summer, we'll be looking at a few of those highs, as well as their three new releases too! And what better way to kick of this square summer than with the game that would forever change Role Playing Games, Final Fantasy... II... Not the Japanese II, the American II... which is actually IV. Umm... cut to something. Now as you might have guessed, i'll be reviewing the DS version, and before you ask, yes, I am aware of the changes to the many versions and releases of Final Fantasy IV over the years, and we'll be briefly looking over them. Now, lest ye' enter, this be the Summer of Square Enix!

Final Fantasy IV. While certainly an important chapter in the series, it's also one that's been undermined by another 16-bit Final Fantasy and the fact that it's become the most remade Final Fantasy with the exception of the first Final Fantasy. It was an innovator for it s time, but does it still hold up? The short answer: yes. How come? Well, let's begin from what an RPG should get right: The narrative.

Bid farewell to your sweat-stained past!

The story is one of love and loss, revenge and forgiveness. Cecil, a dark knight is sent by his king to deliver a ring with his childhood friend and rival Kain unbeknownst of their ruler's intention. From there, the plot unfolds with Cecil saying farewell to his bloodstained past and redeeming himself for his past actions by saving the world from the malicious Golbez. Or, so it seems. For its time, Final Fantasy IV was the largest and most ambitious scale for any RPG up to that point. Unlike many of the other RPGs and even Final Fantasy games before, characters were fleshed out and given detailed back stories, many characters you'd grow to love would die permanently, and massive plot twists throughout the adventure that always keep you hooked. In the original, the translation wasn't the best, but many of these goofs are remembered fondly by fans. You spoony bard indeed. In the DS remake, there were a few scenes added in, but they're few and far between and don't really leave a bigger impact. Personally, I think the story would have worked just fine without these minor details, but the updated dialogue is appreciated. The base of IV's story and the emotional power of the narrative still hold up well as one of Square's finest moments in storytelling. Though, speaking of those changes, let's look over a few of them, shall we?

The DS version wasn't the first time Square Enix had made changes to this game. Starting with the American release of FFIV, a few passages were removed and some character abilities were tweaked. For example, Cecil's Dark Wave ability was removed in the western release but was restored in many of the later versions. In the DS version, it's replaced by the Souleater ability from the Dark Knight class in the Japanese Final Fantasy III. Confused? In the Playstation 1 port, they added a new CG opening that for the time looked good but compared to the DS's gorgeous opening, it looks like a compared to the Mona Lisa, the newer one looks that good. The Gameboy Advance and PSP versions included a bonus dungeon called the Lunar Ruins. The DS version includes quite a few changes, like the auto-battle mode, which makes grinding much simpler and less of a chore. You can watch a movie while auto-battle is on, or if you're like me with your two DS', you can grind in Final Fantasy IV while playing another Square Enix game. Hardcore! There's a few minor additions like the summon Whyt which you can train with your party members in various minigames. It's just an excuse to throw in minigames and give the Fat Chocobo a reason to exist. Pretty pointless, but at least you can give it any ability in the game, which leads to the biggest change from a gameplay perspective. Throughout Final Fantasy IV, you'll come across items that will give you permanent abilities. For example, you can give Cecil the Counter ability which works great with his cover ability. Mixing and matching all the abilities you can get works incredibly well. If you're clever enough you can even make BardSong useful! There are other changes like Namingway no longer able to change your name. And for some reason... he looks way more like a rabbit... Filling out maps to get more items. But aside from those, there's nothing else significant enough to mention. What made the game so great is still intact and with some nice bonuses, this already packaged game has even more content for you to enjoy it through its 30-40 hours!

Now, on the surface, Final Fantasy IV might not seem like the game changer it was for RPGs, but take my word for it, back then, it was one of the most vast worlds with three levels, the surface, the underground and the moon. Yes, this game takes place on Earth. The true innovation of this game however came from the battle system. Instead of taking turns trading blows, a small meter would fill up as time passes by. Once it fills up, your character can choose what to do with their move, healing, items, attacking, or a special ability like Kain's Jump. Speaking of battle, combat has up to five party members unlike the previous remake of Final Fantasy III which only housed 4. Because of this, combat feels more fast paced than it was before. Monsters won't just wait for you to think of your next move, you have to think of the best strategy to keep battles short and minimize damage and items used. Elixirs aren't as common as they were before. There's also a mode that let's time run when you execute an action or stop it, so that makes the game more suited to the challenge the player wants. Speaking of which, the game is fairly challenging unlike the Super Nintendo version which was changed for American's. You never have to tediously grind to get the upperhand, but it definitely helps out in some of the later battles. savepoints are plentiful and as long as you're not healing every time you get injured you should be able to cast any variation of Cure without any fear of running low on Magic Points, especially since Rosa's Pray ability heals both HP and MP. There's also a New Game Plus Mode which lets you keep any abilities a character may have earned and certain items you've obtained in your previous save, which definitely makes this game a more fair challenge that rewards you for persevering through it without making the game too easy. And trust me, you'll want to play through this game to the end, it's one of the few games where I can't think of any flaws. I guess some boss fights can be a bit cheap like the evil moving wall which will kill your team instantly, but in short, the game is still a blast to play. Even after 20 years, Final Fantasy IV is just as enjoyable as it was in 1991.

Now, normally at this part I would talk about the graphics, but to be honest, many of the versions of Final Fantasy IV look almost identical, just with a more colorful palette. IV had decent battle sprites and impressive spells, but the overhead view was little more than a more vibrant NES game, which makes sense since it started out as an NES title. In fact I never thought the Final Fantasy games had graphics to write home about until Final Fantasy VI.... or 3 whatever. Even Final Fantasy 7, as beloved as it is, let's be honest, it certainly isn't an eye pleaser. I mean seriously, look at Cloud's arms they look ridiculously off-sized. The DS remake however gave IV a huge facelift. Not only did the game change dimensions, but it changed for the better. It's a beautiful game with some of the finest graphics on the system. Full motion videos of summons look great and up the visuals, and spells look much flashier and more powerful than before. Now some have criticized this remake for making the characters deviate from their original design art, but to be fair I think that it's more because Final Fantasy IV was originally designed for the NES but was changed to the Super Nintendo and as such was limited to the amount of detail in graphics. Without much expression from the characters, the art designs were the best representation of what the character would be like. Either way the characters still look great for the DS, it's easily among the best looking 3D games. As inconsistent as the graphics are, the one thing that is consistent with every iteration is the score. On the Super Nintendo, the soundtrack was one of the examples of the talent of Nobuo Uematsu. While writing this I checked out the other versions music including some tracks from CDs like Celtic Moon and all of them have the same fine melody, just with a different take. The DS version also includes voice acting. It isn't terrible, but it's pretty cheesy. Sound effects for attacks and magic are all good, but the music is the standout part of the presentation. Every song is so memorable, from Edward's theme:

To Golbez's haunting organ:

To the ArchFiends climactic battles:

It's not just one of the best soundtracks in series history, it's one of the best soundtracks ever made.

Final Fantasy IV, while not what I consider to be the series greatest title, I do consider it my favorite in the series thus far. One great thing about it, at least for those who haven't played it yet, is that it's been released on pretty much every system out there. SNES, Playstation, GameBoy Advance, Wii Virtual Console, , and of course the Nintendo DS, so there's no excuse not to get it! Now this DS remake was made for Final Fantasy's 20th Anniversary, and it's been 5 years since it was released (In Japan, but it still counts!). So, tune in next time as we take a look at what Square Enix has planned for its quarter century celebration. Until next time, game on my friends!